14 in 2014

Update on my 2014 goals:

1. Eat {more} vegetables.

Pregnancy has been a good motivator for me to continue to learn to like vegetables. My midwife told me I should be eating 3 fresh fruits per day and at least 3 different vegetables. While I can't say I get that every day, I'm certainly doing better than I was at this time last year.

I recently tried a new recipe from Family Meal Blog for Zucchini Basil Soup that I really loved! Kory said it tasted "pretty healthy", which means it's got too many vegetables and not enough butter/cream/sugar/junk :) I have zucchini and basil both growing in my garden now, which makes me excited to make this recipe again with fresh from the garden vegetables, which will make it taste even better!

Photo via Family Meal Blog

3. Read books.

I recently received the book Love Does by Bob Goff as a gift. I decided to take a break from the book I've been trying to read for 5 months now (and failing pretty miserably) and read something else. I don't know why, but I have such a hard time giving up on a book or moving on to another one without finishing the first one. I have been really loving Love Does and am pretty sure I will finish the whole thing in a week or two, and that's only because I've made myself stop and not read the entire thing in one day. 

7. Can 3 foods.

I'm making great progress in this area. My garden is planted and growing now. I got a late start because I thought we were moving out of this house and then I was pregnant (read: exhausted) and I just did nothing on the garden until the past few weeks. It's kind of a random assortment of fruits, vegetables, and herbs this year, but most of it was given to me, so I didn't turn down any free plants. I'm growing: basil, cilantro, potatoes, lemon cucumbers, mint, strawberries, zucchini, Japanese cucumbers, watermelon, jalapeños, bell peppers, and tomatoes.

8. Do puzzles.

We finished the giant 2,000 piece puzzle from Christmas and it was a great feeling of accomplishment, BUT there was one piece missing. We searched and searched but never found it. It was pretty disappointing.

We then did another 1,000 piece puzzle in one day. It was candy bars and and was MUCH easier. 

10. Read through the entire Bible.

I don't think I'll finish in a year, but when I read my original goal again, it was just to read through the whole Bible, so I am still doing that. Some weeks are better than others, but it's still

11. Eat more whole foods and, therefore, less processed foods. 

I read a blog a while back where the author was saying that it's just as easy to scramble some eggs as it is to get dressed, put your shoes on, get in the car, drive somewhere and pick up fast food. It was a good point because we default to fast food far too often when we don't feel like cooking or time is short. I'm supposed to be eating a high protein diet these days and so I've made us breakfast for dinner a few times lately. We usually have scrambled eggs, apples, strawberries and some toast.

12. Get my braces off.

Goal: before baby is born. I've been in rubber bands for about 3 months now and hope those will come off pretty soon. Every time I go in they tell me we are getting close, but I don't know exactly how close. 

These rubber bands make me feel like a vampire.